This invention relates to the art of cutting machines for cloth and other sheet materials in which cutting is effected by a reciprocating knife, and more particularly to new and improved safety measures for such machines.
One area of use of the present invention is in straight knife machines moved and guided manually over and along a surface supporting a stack or pile of sheets to be cut and wherein the knife is reciprocated generally normal to that surface, although the principles of the present invention can be variously applied. The blade of such machines is extremely sharp and can pose a safety hazard, particularly when the machine is idle and if the edge of the blade is left exposed. Such machines often include a sharpener assembly carried by the housing adjacent the upper end of the blade and moved down and back along the blade during sharpening. Thus, the presence and operation of such a sharpener poses a problem in providing a guard close to the blade edge.
It would, therefore, be highly desirable to provide such a machine wherein the blade is inaccessible to persons, both when the machine is operating and when it is stopped. It would be particularly advantageous to provide a safety means or guard close to the blade edge and which automatically goes into place when the machine is stopped. Also, it would be desirable to provide such a machine which does not start simply when the handle is gripped but which requires some additional voluntary action by the person using the machine.